Out of the Mouths of Babes
Wouldn't you know it, the toilet stall in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport where Sen Larry Craig got busted has become a tourist attraction. I wonder how long it'll take them to have docents showing people around, and maybe a gift counter selling postcards and little porcelein replicas of the WC. Next thing, no doubt, crowds will be flocking to the hotel room in Vegas where O.J. pulled off the guerrilla raid that, to hear the media report on it, made D-day look like a Sunday walk in the park. I bet the Vegas honchos are wishing they'd never bothered to spend so much building a cheesy replica of the Eiffel Tower.
posted by John M Crowther @ 7:13 AM
8 Comments:
eeyeuww... I just want to dive in there and get that baby off the floor! LOL
Sen Craig really has your ire up John! Wasn't there another senator who came out of the closet on Oprah... forget his name now... but I was amazed at the sympathy he elicited from viewers despite deceiving everyone for years... (including his (2nd) wife who was in hospital at the time having their child) Yes... people are gullible but they are also (IMO) way too politically correct (and accepting)
Sex scandals in DC are not new and are always completely bi-partisan. In 1964 Walter Jenkins, Lyndon B. Johnson's chief of staff, was arrested for having sex with a man in the bathroom at the YMCA. Jenkins had been arrested on a similar charge in 1959 after an incident at the same YMCA toilet. Jenkins, married with six children, was forced to resign.
Actually, Jean, there's no ire at all. I'm delighted by the humor inherent in it. This was no ordinary scandal, this was a French farce. And speaking of sex scandals, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts long ago withstood the outcry that occurred when it came to light he had a male lover who turned out to be a call boy working out of Frank's Washington home. To this day his constituents regularly return him to office every two years.
All I can say is... those constituents either lack the will or the backbone (or both!) (grin) Or maybe they're just too PC.
Or a third possibility: he's a very good representative and it doesn't matter to them what he does in his private life (which happens to be the case).
I believe constituents can handle anything... as long as the cards are all up on the table. You are absolutely correct that it matters not what public figures do in their private lives... (just as long as they don't lie about it) I'd hazard a guess it's the lies and deceit and sordid behaviour that most people take exception to... not the sexual preference.
And fear of being labelled "homophobic" should not deter constituents from expecting and demanding appropriate behaviour from their political leaders. Just me... (and again I am being far too outspoken - I've been told it's something in the water) ;-)
>>Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts long ago withstood the outcry that occurred when it came to light he had a male lover who turned out to be a call boy working out of Frank's Washington home.<<
American morality has come a long way, but certain standards remain: you can have a lover in the house, especially if he is live-in (see J. Edgar Hoober) but you cannot have a lover in a public toilet. Why? Because a public toilet is there for eceryone to use whereas it is understood that a lover is personal property.
You can also have lots of ladies friends visit you in the White House after hours, but you can't do that when the First Lady is in residence.
These rules may seem archaic to some, but as with all things ancient there is always some sense to them.
il professore, your last comment section is right on the mark. Private life is private life but before Clinton's reign, it was kept quiet. That was my objection to Clinton. His sex life was of no importance to me but the fact that he ignored his wife's presence, placing her in a difficult position, plus bring his private life into the oval office was too much for me.
Jean, like you, I just wanted to get that baby off the floor and buy him a new binky. (grin)
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